The bottom eight ranked entrants have been drawn into four two-legged knockout ties to be played between March 20-26.
Somalia, the lowest ranked team was drawn against Eswatini, while Sao Tome e Principe will take on South Sudan. The other two fixtures will be between Chad and Mauritius while Djibouti will play Liberia.
The winners of the four preliminary round ties will advance to the group stage of the qualifiers, joining 44 other countries.
The 48 teams will be drawn into 12 groups of four with the top two in each group qualifying for the finals in Morocco.
Morocco will also participate despite qualifying automatically as hosts, so only one other country will qualify from their group.
The Confederation of African Football, CAF, has yet to announce the date for the group phase draw or the finals of the Cup of Nations.
Morocco wants to play the tournament in mid-2025, despite a clash with the newly expanded Club World Cup in that will be held in the U.S.
The qualifiers for the Cup of Nations finals will be completed by the end of the year. They are being played in the three international windows in September, October and November with two rounds of matches in each window.
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